Resource allocation systems have been developed for assigning work entries to resources according to various criteria. For example, customer contact centers receive requests for assistance or inquiries from customers, and distribute those requests and inquiries to agents. Such systems may attempt to distribute work (e.g., requests for assistance or inquiries) to resources (e.g., agents) by placing work entries corresponding to available work into a queue established for work entries having selected attributes. All agents within a given service or skill must use the same rules for selecting work from that service's work queue.
The assignment of work entries into queues allows work to be allocated to resources based on narrowly defined services. However, such systems do not allow for the individualized selection of a work entry from within a queue established for a service. Instead, a single set of selection rules for the queue is applied to determine the next work entry that is assigned to a resource. For example, the rule for a queue may provide that the work entry that has been in the queue the longest is assigned to the next available resource. Other systems may search across the top row or rows of queues, and assign the first piece of work meeting the selection criteria to the resource. Therefore, such systems do not consider every piece of work in a queue. Accordingly, conventional work allocation systems are incapable of automatically assigning work to resources based on the unique capabilities of the resources to which work from a particular queue may be assigned and based on the unique aspects of individual work entries within the queue, after consideration of each work entry in the queue.
Other systems generate scores in order to correlate the requirements of a work item to the abilities of an agent. However, such systems have been limited to using a single set of attributes for correlating work items and agents. In particular, such systems have used an assigned skill level to match work items to agents. Furthermore, although such systems may allow management preferences to be considered in assigning a piece of work, such preferences are considered only if the scores generated for two or more agents with respect to that piece of work are the same, or if skill is not being considered in assigning work. Furthermore, conventional systems have been limited to selection criteria based on attributes or characteristics of the work or resource themselves, and have not searched every available item. Accordingly, systems have been limited in the criteria that can be applied to match work items to a resource.
Still other resource allocation systems provide a display of possible or qualifying work items to an agent, and let the agent select which work item to service next. Such systems do not automatically assign work to agents based on the unique capabilities of agents or the unique aspects of work entries.